


Unconditional Love is the Greatest Gift of All

by Anonymous



Series: Lilieshcs [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alien Biology, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Galra Keith (Voltron), Gay Keith (Voltron), Intersex Keith (Voltron), M/M, Mpreg, Past Violence, Slow Burn, klance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-08
Updated: 2018-10-18
Packaged: 2019-07-28 04:28:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16234211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: "6 months after you all left for Earth, the Blades received information on the whereabouts of Haggar. We had been tracking her for some time and this was the first substantial lead we had.” Keith’s jaw tensed as he grit his teeth. “It was a trap. We had a mole and she knew we were coming. She was working on this… experiment. Trying to create paladins.”Kolivan stepped forward to take up the narrative. “Of the six Blades we sent, four were killed outright. I feel it is necessary to interject that Haggar was creating a breeding experiment of her own devising.”“B-breeding??” Lance practically choked out the word, slapping his hands onto the briefing table. “Like.. babies?”Keith felt the tips of his pointed ears flush. “Yes, Lance. That’s usually what that means.”





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't written anything in 10+ years. Sorry guys!
> 
> Also, this is an aimless drabble that I probably won't continue overmuch. I have more thoughts on this particular idea, and I might post them if I can get them into a cohesive whole that makes sense.
> 
> Let me know if this brainchild is interesting to anyone!
> 
> Edit: titles are hard...

Allura watched with a faint smile on her face as her friend paced back and forth in the briefing room of the Coalition headquarters like a caged animal. “I think you might be over thinking this.” She leaned one hip against the large map covered table dominating the center of the room. So far, the hybrid had managed over a dozen laps along the long edge of the room in a futile effort to bank frayed nerves.

Violet eyes flashed. “How? Think about it, ‘Llura. Not a damn one of them is going to look at me the same way again after this.” Another lap.

Coran stilled his furious pacing with a calming hand on his shoulder. “Chin up, my boy! It isn’t quite so bad as all that. We have known the others for ages! I hardly think their character and opinion of you would take such a drastic dive in just a few decaphoebes.” 

Antok placed one large hand onto the communications holoscreen hovering in front of him. “You will have to table this breakdown, kit. Kolivan is bringing the Paladins in now.”

Keith hissed quietly, pointed ears drooping slightly. He dragged his hands down his lavender splotched face. The Blade lieutenant was right. Meeting now, freak out later. 

Through sheer force of will, Keith managed to stuff his mounting anxiety back under a mask of indifference. The same one he used when making his mission reports to Kolivan, or dealing with the occasional ambassador on behalf of the Altean princess. Said princess stepped behind him to neaten the knot of his thick black braid. Keith let his shoulders slump minutely as his friend scratched lightly behind his ears. Damn, those endorphins were good shit. He almost felt ready to face his friends after over 5 years apart.

“You can do this. Coran and I, we are here for you. Always. You are part of the Blade of Marmora high command, you have got this.”

Keith flashed a fanged grin at her before facing the doorway at the back of the room. The keypad flashed green and the huge Galra-friendly door (it better be, they sized it with Antok in mind) whooshed open.

Kolivan walked in first, rounding the huge table and standing on the far side of it with Keith, Antok, and the Alteans. The four human Paladins of Voltron filtered in after him to stand on the other side, resplendent in their color coordinated Voltron armor. This solemn gathering lasted all of 5 seconds before humans and Alteans were colliding with tears and hugs, happy to be reunited.

Not being spared, Keith was swept up into Shiro’s arms and hugged to within an inch of his life. The breath was squeezed out of his lungs as Pidge collided with them, followed quickly by Lance, Allura, and Coran. Hunk came last with tears streaming down his face to grab them all up and almost managed to lift the lot of them off the floor.

Tears and laughter came freely. All worries, history, anxiety, everything was washed away for this moment of joy shared between people who had shared and survived through the worst of the hardships of war. While some of them saw each other on a more or less daily basis, for others it had been considerably longer.

When everyone had calmed down, they all took a look at each other, still laughing breathlessly. Shiro had probably changed the least of the humans. He still had the undercut, though his hair was entirely white now, as it had been when they rescued his spirit from the Black lion. The scar stretched over the bridge of his nose, turning pale from the force of his smile. He was the second in command at the Garrison now, under Samuel Holt.

Pidge had grown a few inches. About damn time, in their opinion. The gremlin had shaved either side of their head and had green streaks added to the rest of the still untamable honey-auburn mohawkmop. A small scar from the war split the skin on the side of their lip, adding to the impish look on their face. The glasses once taken from Matt had long since been retired in favor of a pair of green lense goggles that sat jauntily on top of Pidge’s head. No doubt they had some sort of technical wizardry powers programmed in. Pidge also worked at the Garrison, but only part of the time. The rest was spent divided between the labs of the Olkari and rebuilding the Coalition headquarters.

Hunk was bigger than ever. After returning to Earth and fighting off the Galra invasion, the Samoan man had thrown himself into the rebuilding efforts. He was now built like a tank, and had surpassed Shiro as the physically strongest of the human Paladins. His hair was pulled back into a messy topknot, offset by a well kept beard and mustache. Coran smoothed his own in appreciation and mentally made a note to compare care tips with the Yellow Paladin. Most of Hunk’s time was spent still trying to combat and heal the destruction left on Earth from the final Galra attack. Warm brown eyes shown under the well loved orange of his headband.

Lance was still tall and slender, although he too had managed to pack on muscle. Built like a swimmer, his shoulders were broadened and his limbs were long, lean and sinewy. His hair was changed from the style of his youth, now far shorter at the back and sides and left longer on top. His sunstreaked bangs swept backwards away from his forehead, likely from his hands running through it, and still secured there with the products he so loved. His skin glowed a healthy brown, his natural tan refreshed and darkened by being back in the sun of Earth. The freckles across his nose and cheekbones were denser than ever as a result. His jawline had become more defined, and in recent years he had started to experiment with growing out his facial hair having come to favor maintaining a nice even stubble. A thin scar ran diagonally between his eyes, giving him a roguish look he was quite proud of. Employed by Shiro and the Garrison he worked based from the Garrison and maintained a course for training snipers, frequently traveling back to Cuba to see his family.

Allura and Coran had also changed. Allura had cut her hair some years ago, the masses of white curls had become too much of a hassle to stuff into a flight helmet. It now brushed her shoulders in a curling bob. Her black battle suit held Altean influence in the cut, but with large pink Voltron chevrons on the chest and shoulders. She was still tall and strong, in peak condition for being over 10,000 years old. She was the head of the Coalition, and spent quite a bit of time on Earth working with the Garrison.

Coran had also hardly changed at all. Still wearing the Altean suits he always favored, his hair had a little more white streaking it than before and his laugh lines were deeper. His mustache was more majestic than ever.

Keith had probably changed the most, physically at least, though still lean and muscled. Years before, he had been doused in pure quintessence in order to save his life from a Blade mission gone horribly wrong and that had jump started his Galra genes. His ears were pointed at the tops and bottoms just like his mother, Krolia’s. The tips of them were lavender, as well as his fingers spreading up his hands and his feet. The darker purple of his familial markings were bold on his cheeks and spread down his neck, only emphasizing his already sharp features. There were more just like them hidden under his black Blade battlesuit striped down his shoulders and spine, and on his hips and thighs. Lavender skin splotched over his cheeks and nose, though most of his body retained the pale porcelain of human skin. 

His eyes had kept their violet iris, but now the sclera glowed a warm yellow. Most surprisingly, a long slender tail flicked behind him, purple tinged skin and tipped in a puff of curling purpleblack fur. Small fangs and claws completed his more Galra attributes. Keith had also picked up his share of scars. The one on his cheek was the most obvious, but now he had a jagged slash running down the left side of his face, bisecting an eyebrow. That particular wound had almost taken his eye. After the war, he had joined the Blades on a more permanent basis, working alongside his mother to seek out the last vestiges of the Galra Empire. Occasionally filling in as a Paladin, the care of the Red lion was primarily Lance’s responsibility, though he shared about equal custody of Blue with Allura.

All of the Paladins had accumulated scars from their time fighting the Empire, and maintaining that hard won peace. Some were visible as a network on skin, and more were hidden, wounds of the heart and mind.

Finally, when all had had a chance to catch up, promising a more in-depth reunion later, the meeting was forced to return to more serious topics. Everyone took their places on either side of the table. Kolivan, Antok, Keith, and Coran on one side, and the Paladins plus Allura on the other. Kolivan activated the holoscreen embedded in the tabletop and projected a glowing map of the universe into the air.

Allura straightened her shoulders. “I deeply wish we could have all met under better circumstances, but this cannot wait any longer. As you know, Haggar was never located or destroyed during the final days of the Empire. She has managed to evade our every effort to apprehend her, and has succeeded in launching multiple small strikes on the forces of the Blades and Coalition. One... One of these attacks had a more drastic impact on us than others. We feel it is necessary to share this information. It was probably unwise to keep it from everyone for this long, but... ah. It is a rather delicate matter. Keith?” She turned to her friend. Keith read the message in her bluepink eyes. If he wished it, he wouldn’t have to divulge anything. Allura would back him in this. He could feel the unwavering support emanating from the Galra on either side of him. 

Keith sighed. Crossing his arms over his chest, he schooled his features and decided just to power through. He survived an intergalactic war; he could make it through this.

“6 months after you all left for Earth, the Blades received information on the whereabouts of Haggar. We had been tracking her for some time and this was the first substantial lead we had.” Keith’s jaw tensed as he grit his teeth. “It was a trap. We had a mole and she knew we were coming. She was working on this… experiment. Trying to create paladins.”

Pidge blinked. “How exactly would that work? You can’t just engineer a person with a connection to one of the lions. If that were the case, that Shiro clone would have had no trouble taking over Black.”

Shiro’s body tensed at the mention of his ill-fated clone. “Pidge is right. Haggar can make all the people she wants, but it wouldn’t do much.”

Kolivan stepped forward to take up the narrative. “Of the six Blades we sent, four were killed outright. I feel it is necessary to interject that Haggar was creating a breeding experiment of her own devising.”

“ _B-breeding??_ ” Lance practically choked out the word, slapping his hands onto the briefing table. “Like.. babies?”

Keith felt the tips of his pointed ears flush. “Yes, Lance. That’s usually what that means.”

Kolivan cleared his throat and continued. “The Galra have multiple genders. However, only two of them are capable of carrying children to full term for almost 100% of viable pregnancies, regardless of how they present as externally male or female. Under the reign of Zarkon, the Galra Empire held these Galra as commodities, to be gifted to the highest in command so that they might continue their bloodlines unsullied.”

“A barbaric practice.” Allura huffed, running a hand agitatedly through her shining white bob cut.

Kolivan flicked his ears in agreement and continued. “Throughout Zarkon’s rule the natural birth rate of all Galra dropped dramatically. You would be hard pressed to find a purebred Galra anywhere.”

Hunk raised a tentative hand. “Sooooo how exactly does that work? The Galra aren’t as long lived as the Alteans, and Zarkon was hopped up on quintessence so he’s not exactly the breed standard for lifespan. How exactly did the Galran people survive if the birth rate was so low?”

“The Galra can procreate with most species. Even though hardly anyone is more than half Galra by blood, if the Galra genes were stronger than the other species and the child looked Galra, the other side of their bloodline was disregarded.” Disdain practically dripped from Kolivan’s voice.

Keith rolled his eyes, tail lashing in annoyance. “Appearance is everything. If I had been born into the Empire, I probably would have been killed outright or tossed into the servant class as a second class citizen. Even after my body changed.” He glared down at his hands with their claw-tipped purple fingers. It was ironic to him that where normal people had freckles, he had splashes of lavender tinged skin interspersed with striped markings. Pair that with the pale human skin still covering most of his body, he felt he didn’t really fit into either world. Neither human nor Galra.

Antok rumbled an agreement. “Amongst the more prestigious Galra, having a tail is a sign of an inferior bloodline. Most infant kits that show signs of having a tail have them docked at birth. I believe this was the case with Keith’s  _sirah_.” 

Keith lightly shook himself out of his black thoughts to nod his head. “That’s what she told me. I was born looking human so she never thought it would be an issue for me. It helped being born outside of the Empire.”

Lance cleared his throat. “So while this diversion into history lesson is fun and all, why exactly are we here? You said this meeting couldn’t be held over coms or any link.”

Rapid fire knocks at the door interrupted the conversation. Hunk was the closest and walked to place his hand on the keypad to answer. He jumped in surprise as a small figure ducked between his legs and sprinted through the room, crashing into Lance.

The blue paladin was knocked back a step into the table edge and let out a quiet “ _oof_ ” of surprise at the impact. He looked down to see a wild cloud of brown curls and the biggest pair of watering purple eyes he had ever seen set in a tan face with the round cheeks of a child barely out of toddlerhood. The child and Lance stared at each other in stunned surprise.

“Nida?” Keith’s rough voice broke the tense silence. The child loosed a tiny sob and bolted around Lance to scramble under the table to the other side. Lance spun to see Keith hoisting the kid, a girl?, onto one hip in a practiced motion.

“What are you doing here? I told you to stay with  _yaya_. And where are your shoes?” This last bit seemed to be more of an observation to himself rather than the distressed child. He used his free hand to brush curls from the girls face as she wrapped small arms around his neck and sobbed into his armored shoulder, tiny fingers tangling into the obsidian locks that had escaped his thick braid. The tan of her skin contrasted notably with the lavender-pale of Keith’s.

The paladins stared at the sight, frozen in shock. The Alteans and Galra present seemed rather used to the spectacle. Kolivan and Antok actually stepped closer so they flanked Keith on either side, craning their necks to get a better look at the girlchild.

Antok raised one massive hand to gently rest of the girl’s heaving back. “Why the tears, young one? What has happened?”

Keith cradled her closer and purred soothing noises into her hair in an effort to calm her enough to speak.

Pulling her face from Keith’s neck, she mopped at her eyes with the sleeve of her purple dress and tried to speak through hiccups, “Visi said, he said.. He said that  _sirah_  was in here with paldins of Voltron. A-and they fight Galra. But  _we’re_  Galra! He said they could be hurting  _sirah_  and I would never know!”

Keith’s eyes flashed dangerously as he wiped the girl’s eyes with a tenderness that surprised the humans present. “Shh  _kizi_. Voltron is full of good people. None of them would hurt me.”

Antok leaned close. “Young one, if anyone wanted to hurt your  _sirah_  they would have to get through me and Kolivan. And no one gets through me.” Kolivan released a small growl in indignation.

The girl managed a watery grin and lifted her arms to the giant Galra. Antok took her with extreme delicacy and hugged her gently. She looked like a tiny doll in comparison to his massive size. He rubbed his chin over her head in a comforting gesture before passing her back to her  _sirah_.

Keith resettled her on his hip and bounced her lightly, earning a soft giggle. “Would you like to meet my friends?”

When she nodded, he pointed to the paladins scattered around the briefing table. “These are the Paladins of Voltron. Shiro is the Black Paladin; he is the closest thing I had to a family for a long time.”

Shiro grinned at her and reached out to shake her tiny hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Keith rotated a bit. “Next to Shiro is Pidge. They pilot the Green lion. Pidge is one of the smartest people I know. (the gremlin preened at the praise) Then there’s Hunk, he pilots the Yellow lion. What’s the Yellow lion like?”

Nida’s eyes lit up. “The Yellow lion is the safest! It can’t get hurt!”

Hunk’s chest swelled with pride. “Yep! My boy can take a beating!”

Keith directed the girl’s attention directly across the table. “That’s Lance. Hey Nida, what’s your favorite color?”

Violet eyes stared into Keith’s own matching ones in confusion at the abrupt subject change. The girl absently played with a lock of black hair that she had earlier pulled out of its messy braided knot behind Keith’s head. “Umm..Purple?”

Keith chuckled to himself. “I should have seen that coming. Ok, what was your favorite color yesterday?”

“Blue!”

“And Lance is the pilot of the Blue lion, but sometimes he shares with your Aunt Allura.”

Lance’s grin about split his face as he shot her his finger guns. “The Blue lion of water is the best lion. Everyone knows it.” Nida giggled.

Keith adjusted his grip on the child, settling her in a more secure hold. “Everyone, this is Zenida. Though mostly we just call her ‘Nida’. She’s my daughter.”

The eyes of all humans present seemed to magnify tenfold at that statement. Hunk was the first to react.

“Whoa! Keith! That is awesome! When did this happen?”

Shiro just shook his head. This would be the sort of bombshell his brother would drop without context.

Pidge… Pidge’s reaction was a little more alarming. Always the quickest to pick up on things, it didn’t take more than a few seconds for Pidge to connect the dots between the sudden introduction of surprise progeny and the brief touching of delicate subject matter from when they first started. Golden hazel eyes about bugged out and remained fixed on the Galra hybrid, viewing this child in a new light.

Lance was sputtering like a fish, it was actually quite amusing.

Allura and Coran just smiled, having known the girl her entire life. 

The borderline awkward moment was broken as someone thumped harshly on the door twice before it swished open. Krolia blew in, purple gaze sweeping the room rapidly. “Keith! I seem to have-Ah! Nevermind! I see you found her!” A wide grin split her face as she returned Nida’s happy wave.

Keith’s eyebrow quirked as his mother’s gaze fell onto the happily squealing toddler on his hip. “What happened to ‘I’ve got this’, huh  _yaya_?”

Propping her hands on her hips, Krolia sniffed in disdain. “Have you ever tried to run after your spawn? That kit is fast. Get’s it from her  _yaya_.” For all her posturing, Krolia’s voice was dripping in pride for her grandchild.

“Actually I do chase after her. Every day. My little hellion.” Keith blew a raspberry onto the girl’s freckled cheek, earning a wild shriek and giggles. “But now it’s time to go back where she came from, so the adults can finish talking. Say goodbye,  _kizi_. And tell Visi’s  _sirah_  that I would like a word with her later.”

“Ok  _sirah_! Bye  _grasparaanir_! Will you come read to me before bedtime?” Antok rumbled and swept her up, hugging her fiercely before passing her to Kolivan for the same treatment. “Of course we will, kit.”

The girl nodded, satisfied with this response. Kolivan released her and she made her rounds of Coran and Allura, the only other ones on that side of the table. Coran scooped her up and kissed her cheek and Allura leaned in for the same.

Wiggling, she slid from Coran’s grasp. She hugged Keith once more around his legs with a rushed “Bye  _sirah_!” before darting under the table to take Krolia’s outstretched hand. She turned around at the doorway to wave shyly at the human paladins present before the door whooshed shut behind them.

Hunk shuffled his feet awkwardly. “Well… that was unexpected. What were we talking about again?”

Lance furrowed his brow. “My translator must be malfunctioning, because I have no idea what half those words you said are.”

Coran smoothed his mustache and grinned. “Some things that don’t have an equivalent translation just don’t register, or if the meaning is too broad. It’s like saying a  _varbliernilt_  is close to your earthling ducks, but it’s truly a four legged animal commonly used for riding! Lovely plumage feathers.”

“ _Sirah_  is the word we use for the one to bear the kits. It does not translate to the strange ‘mother and father’ terms humans use.  _Parah_ would be the term for the other parent." Antok’s voice rumbled behind Lance, making him jump.

Kolivan nodded. “Because the gender of the Galra is so fluid-“

“Finally the crazy space cats did something right.” Pidge snorted.

“… Because there are so many genders amongst the Galra, it does not matter if one designates themselves as male or female. Outward presentation has nothing to do with biologic capabilities. That is a fairly new concept amongst many races. An adult Galra might decide to change their designation later in life, or not. All Galra are born with both sex characteristics, though one is usually predominate over the other, and some are present only after bearing kits.”

Hunk’s eyes were huge. “So Keith has both? How did that work out in the Garrison??”

Keith’s ears went red and he ran a palm over his face. “The Garrison doctors were a bunch of ignorant assholes. They labeled me as some sort of intersex freak and wrote it off.” he mumbled.

“Sooo like… do you have-“

“We’re done talking about me!” Keith’s face was a second away from catching fire, the red flush having almost entirely blotted out the lavender skin over his cheekbones. “Anyway! You asked why you all are here, well, Zenida is why.”

“Yeah, Mullet! What is up with that?? That kid is cute but totally came out of left field!”

Keith rubbed both hands across his face wearily, pushing his thick bangs out of his face. “Ugh whyme. Whatever. Remember the mission we were talking about before? Everything stems from that clusterfuck. When all of us were captured, there were only two of us that would work for Haggar. Unira and I were both  _urdaal_ , one of the two genders that have the easiest time carrying children. The others were considered expendable.. They were killed outright.” He growled in exhausted frustration. “We didn’t have a  _chance!_  They were waiting for us with numbers and neural inhibitors. Her druids got us as soon as we were inside the base.”

Keith’s shoulders slumped as he remembered back to those dark days stuck in a cell. “The experiment was pretty straight forward. The carrier would be implanted with seminal DNA samples, then there was a two week waiting period to see if it took. The Komar couldn’t do anything to us in that time or else the implantation would be destroyed and they would have to start again. Unira and I were separated early on, so I never knew what became of her until after I was rescued. Other than meals being dropped in once a day, the cell was kept dark and quiet. It was like I was in a sensory deprivation chamber.” Distantly, Keith noticed that his hands had started to shake.

He felt Antok’s tail curl gently around his own, silently offering support. Keith managed a pathetically weak smile in gratitude for the giant male. “After they had proof that it stuck, the Komar would start to pour their quintessence into the carrier. The idea was to alter the embryo on a genetic level in order to make a custom built paladin that would basically be Haggar’s mindless little puppet. Thankfully, the Komar are dumb as shit and never realized that pouring poison into someone wasn’t going to work. But that didn’t stop them from trying.”

Kolivan’s ever-present frown deepened. “None of the records we recovered showed any successes. Either the implantation never completed, the embryo was destroyed during alteration, or the carrier died. The closest Haggar ever got was when a carrier died shortly before reaching full term, but the child extricated showed no sign of brain activity.”

“Thank the Gods for that,” Keith sighed. “Haggar was really excited to use me because I could pilot the Black and Red lions. She probably figured that by crossing me with the samples she had from other paladins that had been captured; the kit would have an affinity for multiple lions.”

Hunk’s mouth dropped open. “H-how many times did we get captured?? How would we not notice that the Galra were taking… Taking _that??_ ”

Antok scoffed. “If you fought them when you were captured, and especially if you were knocked unconscious, would you really notice one more pain amongst many?”

Shiro nodded with grim consideration. “When I was first taken by the Galra after Kerberos, they took samples of everything. Hair, skin cells, blood. I assumed it was just a science thing. Learning all you can about a new species and all that.” He paled. “Wait..They… They had me for a year.. How much could they have possibly gotten? _How much did they get??_ ”

Keith could see Shiro spiraling. He agilely leapt across the table and clamped his hands on Shiro’s biceps to ground him. “Shiro! Shiro, listen to me. When they had me, Haggar only had one sample left from their ‘Champion’. Only one!” Shiro focused his grey gaze onto Keith’s purple one. “O-one? Really? Are you sure?”

Keith nodded emphatically and carefully released his friend. He smiled sardonically. “Yes. Gods know she bitched about it enough. Apparently you can’t clone lion aptitude. She ruined most of her supply before she figured that one out.”

Shiro sighed in relief before paling again as another thought occurred to him. “Thank God for small miracles. But what about the one she had? Did she.. She didn’t! Please tell me she didn’t!”

Keith blanched and looked down. “The first time was with the last bit they had from you.”

Pidge squawked. “Wait- _first time??_ ”

Keith’s shoulders hunched and he folded his arms tightly to his chest. “It didn’t last. The Komar… Their quintessence is poison. To everyone who isn’t a druid, anyway. When they began dumping it into me, I started to die from it. Hardly anyone survives an implantation.”

The humans stared in shock. “But, what happened? I mean, I’m totally glad you didn’t die, but how?” Hunk looked like he was going to be sick.

“The embryo lasted maybe 6 weeks. I actually don’t know how often the Komar pushed their quintessence into me; I was tossed in the cell whenever I wasn’t being used. They weren’t happy when they found out it failed. But I wasn’t dead yet. Too stubborn, I guess. Surprise surprise.” Keith shook his head to clear it, the memories threatening to overwhelm him. 

“They healed me enough to survive implantation and started again. That one lasted longer. Maybe 12 weeks? It’s hard to say because I was in and out of it the entire time. If it was longer, I had no way of knowing. I... I almost didn’t make it that last time. Haggar was angry that her experiment kept failing. She had the Komar use different methods of quintessence transference. Sometimes it was in a huge wave, sometimes just a trickle.

“I’m honestly not sure what was worse. When it was all at once I usually blacked out right away, but when it was smaller it just felt like I had fire dripping into my veins burning me from the inside out. I think I did die during that at least once, but they brought me back. Whatever healing they did wasn’t working as well the second time. I just knew if they did it again, that would be it. I would be used up. But the bitch managed it. She healed me herself enough to implant again. I got tossed back into my cell to wait out the two weeks.”

Kolivan rested a large hand on Keith’s shoulder. “As much as we can figure, it was within that first week that the Blades were finally able to mount a rescue and infiltrate the base. We recovered Keith first, and then we found Unira.”

“What was left of her…” Antok’s growl reverberated through the room. Silence fell like a heavy blanket.

Naturally, Lance was the first to break it. “If...If Shiro’s DNA was that first time, then who had the others?”

Finally after a long minute to muster his courage, Keith raised his head to lock gold and purple eyes with oceanic blue. “The others were from the only other paladin they had for any significant amount of time.”

In that moment, time seemed to slow down for Lance. He felt cold dread slip down his spine in a chilling torrent and lock his limbs. He became acutely aware of Keith. The way his shoulders curved inward, as if to subconsciously protect from a blow. His violet eyes, normally bursting with life and fire, were filled with trepidation and… was that fear? His tail was uncommonly motionless and all but tucked between his legs. Lance held his gaze, suddenly unsure if he really wanted to hear the answer to his question.

“They were yours, Lance. Her name is Zenida Rosita Kogane. She is biologically your daughter.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow. I can't believe this got such a good reception :p thanks!

Lance couldn’t breathe. He thought his body was locked up before? Oh that was nothing compared to now. His heart was racing. Cold sweat broke out all over his body. He felt lightheaded… Was this what a heart attack felt like?

He had to get out of there.

Casting one frantic look into Keith’s large eyes, he turned on one heel and darted out the door.

The cool air of the Coalition headquarters hallway hit him like an icecold shower. Randomly picking a direction, he didn’t care where, he took off at a speed a hair below an all out sprint.

He couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think… He never thought about having kids, but now? To have a daughter?? Maria said that she wanted children, but he never really put any real thought into it–oh no. Shit. Maria. Shitshitshit. Maria, his girlfriend. The girlfriend he had back on Earth! How could he possibly forget about her? He wasn’t sure he loved her, though she told him she did. Which was weird, wasn’t it? They had only been dating for what, 4 months? He wasn’t sure he would ever love her, come to think about it. Not, of course, that he would ever admit that he had left most of his heart in space... NO! Nope! Not thinking about ~~him~~ that!

He whipped around a corner. His thoughts spun faster and more disjointed in his head.

He was with Maria! With her miles of long legs, punk rock fashion sense, shaggy black hair and pale skin, there was no way she was a substitute for someone else. A rather poor substitute, she didn’t have nearly the same fire in her… Her, or any of the handful of others, boy and girl, before her since returning to Earth. Lance stopped dead in his tracks. The empty corridor stretched in front of him.

He liked Keith. No, scratch that. He _loved_ Keith. He missed him when he got to Earth and he wasn’t there with him. He missed him when he started trolling bars looking for something he couldn’t find. Not on Earth… But he only started that because his mama got tired of him moping, though he didn’t realize it at the time!

And… And if he thought about it? The idea of a baby with Keith… he was strangely ok with it. More than, even.

His heart stalled in his chest. He was in love with the Red paladin.

Fuck.

\--

Keith watched the emotions cross over Lance’s face, too quickly to catch. His heart was in his throat as Lance paled and raced out the door. He couldn’t stop the instinctive pained whine that came from him as he raised a hand in an aborted movement to stop the Blue paladin’s flight. Catching himself, he lowered the hand back to his side.

Kolivan placed one giant palm on his shoulder. “Give him time, kit.” Antok’s tail curled tightly with his own again.

Keith blinked the slight wetness from his eyes and schooled his features. This was not how he envisioned this bombshell dropping. He had wanted to be calm and collected, but that all kind of went out the airlock when he actually saw Lance face to face.

He had made it this far as a single parent he could keep going, dammit!  
Folding his arms to his chest, he faced the shocked gazes of the other human paladins. “Any questions?”

\--

Lance scrubbed his hands through his hair, uncaring that he messed up his carefully created tousle. After his oh so dramatic exit, now he had to go back there with his metaphorical tail between his legs. Ugh. So not cool. Turning, he started back the way he came. When he reached the junction he had turned at before, he came up short as a masked Blade member came into view.

“Umm… Can I help you?”

Eerily glowing eyeholes focused on him. “Blue Paladin.”

Lance blinked, shifting his feet. “Mostly Red paladin now, but Blue too sometimes– you know what? Doesn’t matter. What is it?”

The Blade stepped forward, extending an arm towards Lance. There was a slender data drive held in his fingers. Lance raised an eyebrow, but took it.

“Blue paladin. I am Hakoor. The Galra race cherishes children above all else. Or at least, they once did. The Blade of Marmora has held onto the old traditions from our homeworld, even as the Empire left all to fall to ruin and loss.”

Lance peered at the drive in his gloved palm. “And this is what, exactly?”

Hakoor tapped one claw gently on the drive. “This is the life of your child. As soon as we knew our brother was expecting, we Blades collectively began to document the kits life. The intention was that when and if her sire were to ever meet us, we would be able to present him with an archive so that he would not miss a moment of his child’s existence.”

A warm feeling grew in the human’s chest. He cradled the metal device to his chest. “This is.. I can’t– um. Thanks.”

The Blade nodded and continued past the Blue paladin. “Keith does not know the extent of our endeavors. Some of those pictures should be more than amusing.”

Lance bobbed his head, distracted by the fortune he held. To Lance who came from a huge, loving family, this meant everything to him. He couldn’t wait to get back to his assigned quarters and plug it into his tablet. But first, back to the briefing room. He tucked the drive safely under his armor over his heart and continued the way he had come.

\--

Pidge found him before he could make it the entire way back to the briefing room. “Lance! Where the hell have you been?”

“Sorry! I kind of have a lot of shit to deal with!”

Pidge sighed. They scratched the shaved side of their head. “Yeah… I don’t blame you. This is all pretty heavy.”

Lance slumped against the wall. “You’re telling me. I have to see Keith. Any idea where he went? What happened to everyone else, anyway?”

“Shiro, Allura and the Galra went off to discuss Coalition details. Hunk went to go stress-bake. Hmm.” Pidge removed their goggles and fiddled with them. “I think Coran went to the medical ward to do inventory or something. I don’t know where Keith went. He booked it out of there not long after you did. He… He kind of looked like he wanted to cry.”

Lance groaned and dragged his hands down his face, making the scar between his eyes stretch and turn white. “uuuuuugh. I guess I’ll just go to my quarters, then. God knows we won’t be able to find him here. This base is built like a damn maze.”

Pidge punched his arm. “Cheer up, Loverboy Lance. He’ll come around.”  
The Cuban blushed to his ears at the old embarrassing nickname. “Pidge! And ow! Would it kill you to be nice to me in my time of need??”

“Probably. Now scoot. I want to go check out their hangar. I’m sure there’s something in there I can rewire.”

Lance scooted.

\--

Lance stepped into his quarters and locked the door behind him. No way in hell did he want anyone to poke around until he knew what he was getting into. He fished out the data drive and placed it onto his pillow for easy access. Shedding his armor and dumping it in a pile of organized chaos, he stretched out on his bed in his form fitting black flightsuit. The thing was surprisingly comfortable when you took off all the hard parts.

Brown fingers deftly fit the drive into the slot on his tablet. After a second to load, the blue Altean glow of projected holo screens filled the room. There was only a single folder on the drive. Lance tapped it and jerked in shock as hundreds of photo and video files appeared.

“Wow. Hawkwhatever wasn’t kidding.”

He scanned through until he found the oldest timestamp and tapped it.

The first showed Keith. He looked _terrible_. Like he was about to waste away… Lance’s chest tightened at the thought. This must have been very soon after his rescue. The Red paladin was gaunt, almost skeletally so. Most alarming was the black tinge visible through his translucent pale skin. Black veins snaking up his arms, in his face, especially concentrated around his eyes. These must have been the marks of the quintessence poisoning he mentioned in the briefing. Though he was still human in appearance at this point, he looked like death warmed over. Distantly, Lance wondered when exactly Keith gained all the Galra features.

This particular photo showed him cradled in Antok’s massive arms. Keith was limp, drowned in a t-shirt and sweatpants that probably fit him when he was healthy and whole. They were standing in a medical wing and Antok was picking Keith up from the thin bed. Krolia was hovering at his elbow, her mouth opened in speech. One of her purple hands was brushing Keith’s unruly bangs away from his eyes. It was obvious to see how gently both Galra were treating him. So very gently.

Fingers shaking, Lance swiped to the next picture.

-

Allura with her hair newly shorn into a pixie cut white halo around her head proudly displaying a tiny onesie with a huge grin on her face. The elbow and knee pads of the arms and legs corresponded to the lion colors of each limb. In the center of the chest was a shiny black Voltron chevron.

-

Antok, unmasked for once, hunched over and focused intently on the needles clutched in his too large fingers. There was a multi-colored fuzzy... something, dangling off the metal tools. The purple of his mohawk was paler than that of his skin, but blended into the scarred half of his face with its one sightless eye. Antok’s good eye was squinted, tongue sticking out in concentration.

-

The next one was two pictures attached together. The first was Keith, black veined, sickly and slightly swollen with child, sitting at a long dining table. Krolia hovered over him as he ate some sort of green mush. The violet accents in the background of the room looked like they were in the Blade headquarters. This was supported by Blades in various states of armor being visible in the frame.

The second picture was time stamped a few dobashes later. It showed Keith sitting in front of a toilet with his head buried in the bowl, violently ejecting the contents of his stomach. Krolia was holding back his black hair and by the look on her face, chewing out whoever was behind the camera. One of Keith’s hands was holding onto the rim of the bowl in a white knuckled grip and the other was displaying a middle finger.

-

Here was Keith again. It looked like the blackened veins had retreated slightly. He was curled on a couch, comfortably wrapped in a blanket. Krolia was there with him, the two slumped together as they shared a datapad.

-

Kolivan staring with wide eyes and Keith held one of his giant palms to his belly. His baby must have had a strong kick to elicit such a gleeful smile on Keith’s face and absolute wonder on the normally taciturn Blade leader’s face

-

More pictures flicked by. Many were combinations of Keith, Allura, Coran, Antok, and Kolivan with differing Blades interspersed in. Practically all of these pictures had Keith either sitting or leaning against someone. Gradually, very gradually, Lance noticed the blackness receding slowly as Keith healed and his belly grew.

-

Lance’s breath caught as he stared wide-eyed at the next picture. Keith… Keith was beautiful.

This must have been the last picture of pregnant Keith, as all the others from here on out showed a baby instead of a belly.

This particular picture showed Keith leaning against a counter. He must have been planet-side. The sunlight shining from the window behind him was warm and bright, lighting his pale skin with a golden glow. It painted him with an almost ethereal look. Keith was wearing a loose lightweight shirt that wrapped around his torso in soft fabric. It almost looked like a flowey medical scrub top. Keith’s face was what stopped Lance’s heart mid-beat. He looked happy. At peace. The marks of exhaustion and sickness were still present in the black tinge to the skin around his eyes, but the hybrid appeared relaxed.

One slender hand was resting on his huge belly, the other was brushing thick hair back behind his still human ear. For once, his hair was loose from its usual braid. The black strands curled becomingly around his face and shoulders. Keith’s vibrant violet eyes almost seemed to glow being lit by the sun. He smiled gently down at their baby resting safely inside him. Lance would give anything to have that smile directed at him. He would have given anything to have been there in that moment.

Lance needed a moment to compose himself from the heartache before swiping on.

-

Keith lay in a bed covered in white sheets. His hair was in a messy bun tied high on his head, face haggard and covered in sweat. The dark scar on his cheek was the only color on him. Despite his fatigued and disheveled appearance, his whole body showed nothing but absolute love as he held a tiny bundle wrapped in a truly awful mishmash of colored fuzz. Lance guessed that this, blanket? let’s go with blanket, must have been what Antok had been knitting months before this picture was taken. Lance could just see Zenida’s teensytiny face in the fluffy monstrosity. Her toothless mouth was wide open in her red face as she no doubt shrieked her unhappiness to the skies.

-

Now was a montage of various Alteans and Blades holding a tiny newborn baby while Keith slept exhaustedly in the background. Krolia kept a close watch on him, even as she had her turn holding her granddaughter.

During Antok’s turn, he had such an expression on his face that made Lance think of the old Earth meme where if someone harmed that baby, then Antok would kill everyone in the room and then himself. Or he would just sunder the entire universe. Really, anything was possible from that massive male.

-

Keith, clean now and looking more like himself, gently washing Nida in a basin. He held a small pile of bubbles in his hand and had apparently put a dollop on her nose. The newborn baby was going cross-eyed trying to focus her gaze on them. Keith was laughing.

-

Here was Coran holding a blanket swaddled infant a few months old with tan skin and a few wispy brown curls. In the baby’s mouth was a pacifier that was shaped to look like a mustache. Coran is so proud.

-  
Keith curled into a ball with his mother, Nida nestled safely between them. All slept peacefully.

-

On they went, Zenida getting bigger as the pictures progressed. Lance also noticed when Keith had started to go on missions, as he was missing from pictures and often had small injuries when he appeared again.

-

Her first birthday. Lance felt a wave of regret deep in his chest.

-

Here was a picture of Nida cutting her first tooth. Krolia held her and didn’t seem to care that she was gnawing on her grandmother's knuckles.

-

A tiny Nida greeting Keith in his Blade uniform. He knelt down to her level on the floor and she wrapped chubby arms around his neck. His face showed nothing but joy as he held his baby.

Lance kind of hated that uniform. Actually, he hated what it represented. That Keith could go out on a mission and die at any time... But he couldn’t doubt that it made Keith’s ass look _good_. He had to swallow hard before continuing.

-

Coran held the small girl under her armpits, lifting her high into the air so she could grab space apples from a tree. It looked like they were on Olkarion.

-

Keith stood in a room surrounded by stars projected into the air. He held a 2 year old Nida in his arms as he pointed out constellations to her. One tiny hand reached up to grasp at the blue lights, her entire face alight with wonder, the other held tightly to Keith’s black braid.

Lance smiled to himself. He had noticed that she did that whenever Keith’s hair was in reach.

-

Allura holding Nida by the hands and dancing them around a sweeping ballroom. Dignitaries from all different worlds swept around them, resplendent in their finery. Allura and Zenida were in matching long dresses and danced together uncaring of the rather undignified image of a princess and leader of free peoples Allura presented.

-

Kolivan and Antok stood in a communications room in the Blade headquarters. From the profiles and heart beat signals on one of the screens nearest them, they were overseeing a mission.

The entire serious secret agent look was ruined by the little girl in a frilly dress perched jauntily on Antok’s shoulders. She looked like she was having a grand time.

-

There was a large amount of pictures that were absent of Keith. Lance found out why when the next time he saw the Red paladin, he had undergone his Galra transformation. Lance frowned and assumed the lack of Keith was due to his mission and subsequent recovery time. He made a mental note to get the entire story from the hybrid spitfire.

-

Allura trying to wrestle Zenida’s untamable cloud of wild curls into some semblance of order. Coran stood behind them, arms laden with various combs and brushes. Lance snorted. That was a losing battle. He only kept his own curls under control with truly excessive amounts of product.

-

This was not a happy picture. Nida was probably about 4 here. Keith lay propped up in a bed in the medical ward. Half of his face was swathed in white bandages, completely covering his left eye. Nida was perched on the bed beside him tearfully pressing a kiss onto the injured side of his face. Keith’s tail was wrapped loosely around her waist, unconsciously keeping her close.

-

The last two pictures were another pair attached together. The first showed Keith in a black tanktop and loose black pants teaching Nida proper fighting stances. The girl was positioned the same as her _sirah_ and her clothes were the same as his, only a bright purple. Lance let his eyes linger on the curves displayed by formfitting black fabric. His braid was longer than Lance had thought, swept over his shoulder and resting on his chest. Idly, he wondered how long it would be loose.

Blue eyes widened as he focused on the Red paladins chest again. Holy fu–was that..?? He did!! Lance’s brain went offline for a hot minute as he registered Keith’s new… assets. Dimly, he remembered Antok saying something about Galra bodies changing after carrying a child. They had been hidden earlier by the breastplate of his armor, but that shirt was a LOT thinner than protective plate. Oh yes. He was definitely going to come back to those. Shaking his head, Lance forced himself to focus again.

The second picture was taken shortly after, Galra and girl on the floor twisted together. Keith was blowing a raspberry onto Nida’s bare belly, the girl pink cheeked and screaming in laughter.

The timestamp on that one showed that it was only a handful of days before the Paladins docked on the Coalition station.

Emotion swelling in his chest, Lance wiped his eyes and stood. Quickly, he switched his black flightsuit for casual clothes more suited to wandering around in the chilly hallways. He had to go find Keith.

\--

Lance traveled through the base until he reached the residential areas. Knocking on doors yielded him no results. Miffed, he decided to go to the bridge. Maybe Allura or Kolivan would be there and be able to direct him. The longer it took to find the Red paladin, the more irritated Lance became. He might have missed Keith to the very depths of his soul, but one thing became perfectly clear to him as he went through the data file on Zenida. His mind kept circling around to all the years of his child’s life that he had missed. Her entire life, matter of fact. Oh they were going to have words about that. And if he was very very lucky, this was going to end in them having fantastic angry makeup sex.

He didn’t find either of them. Surprisingly, he found Keith. The Galra hybrid jumped as Lance walked into the vacant room. Keith had also changed into more comfortable clothes. Still favoring black, he now sported a loose long sleeve black shirt and tactical pants with heavy boots to complete the ensemble. All in all, it was very reminiscent of his wartime look. He was gorgeous.

“I think we need to talk, Mullet.”

Keith’s shoulders went up defensively. “You really need to quit calling me that.”

Lance shrugged his own broad shoulders. “Fair enough. I have a bone to pick with you.” He could feel the irritation crawling down his spine.

Keith just sighed and folded his arms. “Fine. Let’s just have this out here then, shall we?”

Lance whirled around on Keith, worn sneakers squeaking on the metal floors. “Fine! Were you ever going to tell me about her? How long were you planning on keeping this to yourself??”

Keith glared and curled his arms tighter to his chest, clenching his hands in his shirt. “This wasn’t exactly something I could just message you about! Think about it, Lance! If I called you out of the blue and told you I was pregnant with your kid, would you have believed me? Especially considering everyone thought I was a MAN and couldn’t get pregnant?? And oh, the fact that _we never slept together?!_ ”

The Cuban mirrored the pose, still obstinate. “Well, no. But you should have told me anyway!”

Keith sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Do you remember what you said the day you left to go back to Earth?”

“How the hell am I supposed to remember something like that?”

Violet eyes focused on blue with laser precision. “You said, and I quote, ‘If I have to deal with any more space stuff, it will be too soon!’”

Lance paled, his scar standing out in stark relief. Put that way, it sounded terrible. “I–ok. That was uncalled for. I shouldn’t have said that.” He hunched into his old and well loved jacket, burying his hands in the deep pockets.

Tail lashing, the hybrid’s glare intensified. “Even if I wanted to tell you, I was too damn sick to move for half the pregnancy. And then I found out you had a _girlfriend_ ,” the word was spat out like a curse, “and like hell was I going to come crawling to you after that!”

Temper flaring again, Lance got up in Keith’s face. “Girlfriend, boyfriend, that doesn’t matter! I deserved to know I had a baby! What was _really_ stopping you?” He could feel heat crackling in his face and knew he had a healthy anger flush darkening his cheeks.

Keith’s eyes were fiery and he bit out his next words from behind sharp, clenched teeth. “I was scared, you ass! I. Was. Scared. _Happy?!_ ”

Lance stopped. His anger melted away like snow in desert heat. “You. What? Why?”

Keith took a step back, bringing lavender tinged palms up to dig roughly into his burning eyes. There was no way he was going to tear up here. Damn hormones… Having a baby really changed his system. It didn’t help that Lance smelled _really_ good. “I’m a freak, ok?! I know it. I just didn’t want anyone else to.”

A warm hand wrapped around his wrist, gently guiding his hand down from his face. Keith started in surprise at the unexpected touch and dropped the other hand. Purple focused on shifting ocean blue. The softness he found there made him falter. Lance stepped closer, cupping one brown palm onto a lavender splotched cheek. “Keith, I– _We_ never would have looked at you that way. Not a damn one of our friends are like that. And you know it. None of us left the first time you learned you were Galra, this is no different. And for you.. I…” Lance trailed off as his free arm slid around Keith’s slender waist, enjoying the flex of muscles under his skin. 

Keith leaned into the touch despite himself and swallowed hard, fingers curling into the soft material of Lance’s blue turtleneck. He had missed this asshole. “Lance.. You–“

Lance swept down and cut him off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A hahaha I can't write this on the sly at work anymore :D
> 
> Rating can only go up from here, we'll see if I can bring myself to write more porn.
> 
> Btw, editing on mobile is a bitch and a half, so let me know if I have to fix any mistakes.


	3. Chapter 3

Keith knew what was coming. He could see it plain as day in the look in Lance’s eyes. Hell, people from Earth could probably spot it. But oh, he  _wanted_.  He had just tilted his head up slightly to accept when he caught the slightest whiff of a fading scent. One that was distinctly female. There was only one way a scent like that would last this long. Heart dropping through the floor in mortification, Keith had barely enough time to twist his head to the side so Lance’s intended kiss landed in the thickness of the bangs framing his face instead of on his mouth. His pointed ears twitched as he registered a faint sound outside.

Lance jerked back in surprise. “Wha-?” His eyebrows about flew upinto his hairline and he stumbled slightly  when Keith pushed him back a step. “Keith! What gives?”

As if on cue, the doors to the bridge opened with a  _hiss _ and Antok stepped inside, focused intently on the datapad in his hands. He stopped short as he registered the two paladins in the room. “Am I interrupting something?” Sharp eyes noted their closeness to one another even as his mask betrayed no trace of his  expression.

Keith shook his head  fiercely. “No. I was just leaving.” He wasted no time booking it out of there like his tail was on fire.

Antok moved his bulk aside slightly to let him escape. He turned and observed Lance who was standing where Keith had left him, arms slightly raised as if to hold him back and his face looking like a lost puppy. Silently scenting the air, Antok squared his massive shoulders as he gained understanding of the situation. “Paladin.” he growled. “It is unwise to take up with someone when you are involved with another.”

Lance squawked. “Wait! It isn’t like that!” he flapped his hands anxiously and flushed from top to toe. “I wasn’t- He! It’s not- oh quiznak.”

Antok rumbled warningly. “The scent clinging to you is telling. You have spent enough time in...  _intimate_ proximity to a female that the scent remains quintants later. As a half-breed, Keith’s nose might not be quite as adept as ours, but some things are obvious. And now the kit knows it too.”

“ _Quiznak_! ”

Antok watched him bolt out the door  and felt a headache building behind his eyes . Damn kits were going to be the death of him.

\--

Keith rushed back to his family quarters. He couldn’t believe he almost-! _Ugh_! Nope. Not going there. Lance was with someone else, even his nose-blind ass could figure that out. He would just continue on as he had for the last fiveish years. Slowing to a stop outside his door, he took a second to draw  a deep breath. All he had to do was stuff those stupid feelings back where they came from. Right. Just ignore the calls of  _matematemate_ that rose up in his stupid body and his stupider brain whenever he caught a hint of Lance’s natural saltysweet beachy scent.

He could do this. Ignore the stupid hormones. Yep, totally.

_Quiznak_.

\--

Krolia didn’t look up as her son entered their shared family quarters. “I wasn’t sure if you had intended on spending the entire sleep cycle in the hallway or not.” Not hearing any response she  raised her head. “Keith?”

He shook his head and went past her to Zenida’s room. Opening the door silently, he crossed the darkened space to her bed where she slept peacefully. Keith knelt  down beside her and brushed her wayward curls back from her face. “I don’t need anyone but you, baby.”  he whispered and  pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead. His heart warmed considerably when she smiled in her sleep, tiny nose twitching as she subconsciously registered the familiar comforting scent of her  _sirah_.  Standing, he crept back toward the door where his mother stood, her eyebrows furrowed in concern. “Kit?”

Closing the door behind him, he slumped against it. “I ’m so fucked, mom.”

“Blue Paladin?”

Keith nodded and allowed his mother to drag him into their common area. “Is he leading you on?” The tone of her voice implied that the man in question would dearly regret it if he was.

The younger Galra shook his head and grasped the warm mug he was handed. “Other way ‘round. He has someone else, but um... it’s complicated?”

Krolia bobbed her head in understanding. “Galra might not mate for life, but its hard to give up when your heart decides on one person. I haven’t wanted anyone since your father. Of course I’ve had dalliances-” “ _Mom_! ” “Oh hush. It’s not that big a deal. I’m still in my prime as far as these things go! And I’m not dead! I  _can _ appreciate.”

“I really don ’t want to hear this!” Krolia smacked the back of his head lightly. “Knock it off. I' m saying that beanpole isn ’t the end all be all.”

Keith’s ears drooped as he tried to assimilate himself with the back cushions of the couch. “It's not like I haven’t tried… It’s just- gross. When I try with someone else. Not the same?  And he’s not a beanpole.” Keith huffed as he nursed his drink.

Krolia felt for her  _kirzu_.  She really did. Feelings were stupid and confusing. Not to mention that Galra instincts were hard to resist or suppress. Krolia wrapped an arm around Keith, drawing him close to her side. She stroked his hair and he leaned into her, quietly accepting the silent comfort.

Keith hoped fervently that he would be able to better handle the whole situation in the morning after a good night’s sleep. Or what passed for night/morning when one was stuck on a sunless baseship floating through space, anyway.

\--

Lance buried his face in his hands and groaned loudly. He kept screwing up, left, right, and center. Honestly, how was he supposed to know that last night he spent on Earth before getting Allura ’s transmission would have stuck around this long? He had taken like six showers!

It’s not like it was that great, anyway. He might not have been entirely into it, but Maria had seemed like she  really was. And who isn’t above a snack out of boredom? Lance mentally slapped himself.  _Dios_ if that didn’t make him sound like the biggest ho in existence. His mama would be after his skinny ass with her  _chanclas _ in a heartbeat if she knew he was having such  thoughts. And damn him if he wouldn’t have deserved every soul-blistering smack. Thunking his head against the metal wall hard enough to (hopefully) rattle his brains back into some semblance of a decent human being, Lance straightened and began to wander back to the assigned temporary quarters for the Paladins.

He needed to see Hunk. His best friend was the best soundboard for this type of shit. There was nothing that couldn’t be solved by hugs and excessive amounts of Hunk’s exquisite baked goods.

Luckily and to his surprise, Hunk was still in the kitchen despite the hour growing later in the evening. Space evening? Sometimes he really hated being off a normal planet with a normal sun and normal hours!

Lance groaned with every scrap of dramatic dramaqueen theatrics he had in him and collapsed bonelessly against Hunk’s broad back, flinging his arms over his friend’s muscled shoulders. “I am the worst.”

Hunk chuckled and reached a hand back to scratch lightly against the shorn  hair on the back of Lance ’s head. “Hi, buddy. Would a fresh danish solve some of your teenage angst? They’re extra flakey~! ”

“We’re like mid-20s, dude. And yes. Always yes. Has anyone told you that you are a Saint amongst lesser mortals?”

Hunk twisted around and offered Lance a tray of colorfully decorated pastries. “Not lately, but feel free to tell me more. What’s up?”

Lance perused the treats and chose one with swirling blue icing. “Boy trouble.”

“Keith?” The two meandered towards the smaller breakfast table set in a recessed nook of their common area.

“How did you know ? ”

Hunk propped his head on one fist. “When is it not Keith when you have that look on your face? What did you do?”

Lance hunched in on himself. “What do you mean what did  _I _ do? I’m not that bad! It was... I just -” He huffed. “I didn’t think seeing him again like this, and looking like  _that_ would be so…”

“Breathtaking? Electrifying? Eye-opening?  _Exciting_? ” Hunk stroked his goatee and waggled his thick eyebrows obscenely .

Lance laughed despite his dour mood. “You need to quit reading trashy romance novels, my dude .”

“Silence, infidel. I’ve seen your search history. But seriously, only seeing him shouldn’t have put you in such a pathetic state. What’s really going on? Real talk.” Hunk helped himself to a pastry with a rather lovely and expertly applied pale tangerine glaze, if he did say so himself. Past experience has taught him that not actually focusing on Lance helped his flighty friend to work through tough thoughts.

Lance fidgeted in his seat, breaking off small chunks of his snack and eating them, refusing to make eye contact with his friend. “It’s Keith, but it’s also Maria. Did you know that the Galra have bloodhound noses? They could smell her on me.”

Hunk hummed encouragingly. “And that ’s a problem?”

“It is when Keith hit me in the face like a train. I like him. A lot.”

“Whoa, did he like... _actually _ hit you? Because that’s cold, bro. I mean, you’re his babydaddy.”

Lance sat bolt upright. “No! Why would you think-no. Just no. And for the love of mama’s sacred garlic knots, PLEASE neverrefer to me like that again!”

Hunk raised his hands apologetically. “Ok, sorry. But you are, just sayin’. So you like him, what’s the problem? Just dump Maria. Simple .”

Lance dropped his head down onto his hands. “I want to, but it ’s not that easy. Normally I’m the one that gets dumped. To be honest, I’m not sure why I started going out with her in the first place.”

“ Well, your mama will be happy to hear that. She never did like her that much.”

“Wait! What??”  Blue eyes about bugged out of his head.

Hunk sighed explosively and smacked a hand to his face. “Lance, you poor oblivious muffin,  _everyone _ knows that!  My moms have been advocating against her since day one! ”

Lance was aghast. “She never told me! Yours didn’t, either! What the hell, man?! ”

Hunk crossed his arms on the table and stared directly at his friend. “Of course she didn’t. You’ve been so hung up on certain persons who shall remain unnamed that your mama was probably just glad to see you kind of happy with someone. Even if that someone is a harpy in ripped jeans. And if you were looking for a reason why you went out with her, think really hard on how she looks. Remind you of someone? ”

“Maria isn’t  _that _ bad…”

Hunk raised one skeptical eyebrow. “Dude. My heterosexual lifemate. My totes bestie. Wake up. She about lost her marbles because you didn’t propose within the first  two months.‘Batshit’ comes to mind. ”

Lance stuffed the remainder of his danish into his mouth so he wouldn’t have to answer. Hunk was right and he knew it.

He knew what he had to do, now was just figuring out how to do it.

\--

Lance may or may not have left it until the morning. Pacing anxiously in his quarters, he stared at the phone (altered for long-distance transmission per Pidge) in his hand like it was a snake about to come alive and bite him any minute. One slender brown finger hovered over the contact info, paused in indecision.

The Cuban squeezed his eyes shut and took a long breath. Well. This wasn’t going to get any easier. He would just get it over with quick, like pulling off a Band-Aid .

He tapped ‘call’.

\--

Allura massaged her temples. The Paladins were only set to stay for a short amount of time and there was a terrible amount of work that needed to be done before they returned to Earth. Or Olkarion. And she would probably have to touch base with the Garrison soon… Alright; meeting, address the state of the Coalition forces, once again talk about the horrendous mess on the subject of Haggar, arrange a dinner with the ambassadors from Parfron5, she should probably spend some quality non-work related time with her friends, too…

Oh she would kill someone for a cup of the coffee she had been introduced to on Earth. Perhaps she should seek out Pidge. Spirits knew the poor creature practically subsisted entirely off the stuff.

As if summoned by magic, a fragrant mug appeared under her nose. Allura blinked, following the mug and the hand holding it up a cybernetic arm and into the grey eyes of her friend. “Ah, Shiro. You have impeccable timing.”

“I figured you could use a break. Good thing, too. You looked like you were about to have your head explode.” Shiro smiled kindly at her and took the seat across from hers. “Anything I can help with?”

Allura pushed a thick folder towards him. “You are wonderful. These documents need to be ordered properly. And I think we might need to revisit on the subject of Haggar. I’m afraid our initial conference was rather abruptly stalled at an inopportune moment.”

Shiro nodded. “It’s probably for the best that it ended that way, though. It was a pretty heavy discussion. You’re  right that we need to reconvene. There is a lot of information that we haven’t heard yet.”

Allura nodded, making a note on her holopad. “I shall send a message to the Paladins, Kolivan, and Antok. Do you think everyone would want to take dinner with us? We typically have a more intimate family gathering when we are all on the same base.”

Shiro’s grin was luminous. “Great idea! We could use a little bonding time.”

“Excellent. We still need to bring everyone up to speed on the inner workings of the Coalition and the freedom movement. I believe it would be best to begin our meetings  after lunch.”

\--

“Well that was fun. I thought we were going to die in there.” Lance rolled his head on his shoulders and reached his long arms back as far as they would go, which, given his natural flexibility, was impressively far. Between the exploding dumpster fire of that morning’s phone call and the several varga long meeting that just destroyed his will to live, Lance was feeling pretty worn out.

The Garrison trio comprised of Hunk, Lance, and Pidge, stretched out the kinks in their  various joints  as they exited the enormous meeting room Allura and Shiro had commandeered to fit the Galra leaders, the Paladins of Voltron, and the heads of the Resistance movement. It was almost too much information dumped in too short a span of time. They were beat.

Hunk tugged his topknot loose and smoothed it back up again. “I don ’t know about you guys, but I think it ’s about time to feed the beast. Where exactly is this dinner?”

Pidge pulled up a holomap on their  gauntlet. “It’s in the Galra living quarters, Kolivan’s I think. We have enough time to go back to our own and clean up, change, whatever. Good thing, too. I’m pretty tired of living in my armor.”

Lance clapped his hands together. “That’s that! Alright  _amigos_ , go wash your nasty selves and then we shall eat ourselves into a food coma the likes no one has ever seen before.”

Hunk whooped loudly and trundled off down the hall. The other two followed behind him.

Almost a varga later, the three met up again to venture towards a long corridor none of them had seen yet. They assumed they were in the right place given that the air was lightly scented with the smells of cooking.

Pidge raised their arm to thump on the door. It whooshed open immediately, greeting the humans with a wave of warm air that smelled like absolute  _heaven_.

Lance took the pause of his friends with their noses in the air to slip into the somewhat spacious residential rooms. He had to take a second to appreciate the scene in front of him. Because they were the last to arrive, he was able to witness the absolute majesty of the extremely scary, ninja assassin Galra sans armor and masks and in soft lounge clothes. Antok had an apron. Lance grinned to himself and shed his jacket  leaving his arms bare in his favorite blue turtleneck.

Hunk and Pidge finally entered the space and followed his lead by shucking their outer layers. Between the amount of people and the food being cooked, the air was pleasantly warm. It reminded Lance of Thanksgiving at his mama ’s when the entirety of his extended family would pack themselves into the old beachhouse he and his siblings grew up in. His grinned broadened when he heard the happy shrieks of children and caught site of multiple smaller purple bodies tumbling about underfoot and around the adults. Hunk laughed, having also grown up in a huge family environment.

Krolia met them at the open doorway to the kitchen area. “Here. Tables over there.” She handed out stacks of plates and cutlery and jerked her head towards the adjoining room and the long table inside.  The three paladins accepted their assigned tasks and went about making the room ready. Pidge and Hunk got into a debate about the merits of a traditional Earth place setting vs.  those they had learned on other planets. Lance just shook his head at his friends and stepped into the kitchen to get more flatware.

Inside was nothing but pure pandemonium. Allura and Shiro were wisely staying off to the side and mixing up drinks for adults and children alike under the supervision of a grinning Coran. Shiro had to stop him from adding PopPopWimbleton’s 10,000 year old nunvil more than once to the adult designated side. Lance snorted in fondness. He could have sworn the old coot had been persuaded to get rid of that travesty on the tastebuds. Apparently, Coran had managed to smuggle some out.

Kolivan and Antok were double teaming the spaceoven, the source of the delicious spicy aroma emanating from whatever Antok was stirring. Kolivan seemed to be frying something bright yellow in a pan. Divested of their thick Marmora armor, it was easy to see the bond tattoos on their hands.

Krolia and two other Galra adults were chopping vegetables on a counter, moving back and forth and around each other to get everything cut and seasoned properly. The two new Galra looked almost like a cross between Kolivan and Antok, with  Kolivan's pale crest and red markings and Antok's deep purple fur color, though only one of them boasted a tail. With a start, Lance realized that these two Galra must be Kolivan and Antok ’s own children. Holy shit. Wisely, he kept his mouth shut and moved around the three to get to the storage unit holding the eating utensils.

“Lance!”  The paladin looked up just in time to stop himself from bowling over the former red paladin. Blue eyes locked on violet. “Keith! Sorry, I was looking for forks!”

Keith raised one black eyebrow. “By the cold storage?” Lance raised one hand to scratch sheepishly at the back of his head. “Uhh ... Yes? I’m not exactly familiar with this place.”

Keith laughed softly under his breath and moved swiftly around Lance in the limited space to direct him to the correct unit. “In here.” While Keith busied himself with getting the extra utensils, Lance  was occupied with checking him out. Keith was dressed for a warm and causal environment. He had left his more concealing clothing for a fitted black t-shirt like he had in their days aboard the Castle and black leggings. His feet were shockingly bare. Long black hair was pulled into a messy bun on the crown of his head, wisps escaping to curl around his face and pointed ears in a most becoming manner. The back of his neck shone with a light sheen of sweat. The porcelain skin was so pale, contrasting beautifully with the stark Galra marks and lavender patches disappearing down the collar of his shirt. “Hey! Pay attention!” Fingers clicking impatiently in front of his nose brought Lance back to reality in a jerk.

“uuh what?” Lance had to clear his throat roughly. For some reason, his mouth had gone dry. The Cuban  colored slightly and accepted the bundle that Keith had apparently been trying to pass him for several minutes.  Lance turned on his heel and made a quick exit back to the dining area. Hunk sidled up beside him, grinning like a Cheshire cat. “Thirsty, buddy?” The tint to Lance’s brown cheeks got a rapid upgrade to a full blown blush dark enough to almost erase his scar. “Shut it!”

Thankfully, Hunk's teasing got cut short by the arrival of food. Krolia led the procession, bearing a tray of something steaming. Placing her burden onto an awaiting hotpad, she tipped her head back a loosed a trilling cry that made the hair raise up on the necks of the humans present. Pidge cringed. “What was  _that _ _?_ ”

Keith moved in between them, Allura and Shiro close behind him. “Galra call. It’s basically a kid whistle.” Sure enough, the small herd of offspring came tumbling into the room, scrambling to find seats. Keith almost pitched forward as one child in particular decided  to leap onto his back. “Oi! Careful around hot things!”

Nida giggled, unperturbed. She wrapped her tan arms around Keith’s neck and her legs around his waist, clinging to his back like a baby koala. Keith wrapped one arm back around himself to support her. “You realize I still have to go back and get more stuff, right  _kizi _ ?”

“ I won’t fall off!”

Keith shrugged. “Ok then. Hold on tight.” He moved back into the kitchen, tail moving up to secure his spawn more tightly to his back.  Lance stared after them, blindly feeling his way into an empty chair. He didn’t know how much his heart would be able to take of this.

As everyone moved about the table, distributing food and drink and finding seats, Kolivan took the chance to introduce the newcomers to the new faces in the room. “Paladins, welcome. This is Tennok and Gera, my son and his daughter. Their bondmates were unable to attend.” Hunk was the first to extend his hand to shake. “Wow! Not gonna lie, I thought you two were siblings!”

Tennok laughed jovially, surprisingly cheerful for an offspring of two notoriously taciturn Galra. “Everyone says that. Galra don’t appear to age drastically compared to other races.  My daughter takes after her  _sirah_ , though the family markings are all  _P arah_ and she inherited my  _s irah_ _’s_  tail.” Antok swelled with pride. Kolivan grunted his own approval.

Pidge looked interested. “So the red marks that you have, and the purpleish ones Keith and Krolia have, those are passed down through the uh ...  Sire’s line?”

Kolivan nodded. “Yes. Though our daughter would have been mistaken for Antok’s clone.” The grave tone to his voice implied that their daughter was no longer with them. Most likely one of many Blades to fall fighting against the Empire.

Gera laid a calming hand on his arm. “My children take after their  _Parah_.  They don’t look at all like me, I don’t think.” Her voice was a deep rumble, closer to Antok’s own tones and surprisingly deep for a female. She raised a hand to indicate the other three Galra children seated at the table, the youngest of whom looked like they were barely old enough to walk with eyes taking up half their tiny face. The oldest was taller than Shiro by about half a head (most of that being fluffy bat-ears), though  probably young by Galra standards and still gangly with youth. “I was blessed with multiple pregnancies. Extremely unusual for modern Galra.”

Lance didn’t miss the way Keith’s eyes darkened briefly even as he occupied himself with cutting Zenida’s food into bite sized bits for her. Sharp eyes trained to spot targets and take them out with unerring precision caught Allura’s subtle movement to lean against their friends shoulder in comfort, hidden under the motion of  grabbing a tureen of a tangy sweet sauce. What was that about?

The slightly dampened atmosphere was turned around when Krolia and Tennok managed to get everyone involved in trading stories of their more ill-advised methods of completing missions. Lance was pleased to see Keith ’s violet eyes lighten as he listened to his mother tell of her youth in the Blade under the tutelage of the late Thace whose hot headedness and rash decision making could have given Keith a run for his money. Shiro and Lance even contributed their own stories about training cadets at the Garrison, Shiro in the piloting program and Lance training snipers. Hunk pitched in about his rebuilding efforts and Pidge about essentially reprogramming all the tech of the Garrison and Coalition combined.

Keith relaxed into his seat. Surrounded by family and full of good food, his precious kit resting sleepily in his lap where she had crawled after finishing her dessert, he couldn’t be more content. Looking across the table laden with mostly empty dishes, he let his eyes linger on expressive oceanic irises set into a freckled face that was animated in a retelling of some stupid cadet getting caught in a compromising position in the sniper’s nest with an engineer. Everyone was smiling and laughing around him. He let his eyes trail down strong shoulders, taut bare arms and a solid build.  He knew he shouldn’t, but he couldn’t help but admire the vision in front of him.  He hid his smile into his daughter ’s wild curls. He wished this feeling of lightweight happiness would last forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SIDE NOTE: juggling multiple people is HARD.
> 
> Also, is anyone else having formatting issues? I've said it before and I will say it forever, formatting on mobile is a BITCH.

**Author's Note:**

> Odd notes:  
> Galra language is various languages!!! And words I stole/made up  
> Kizi – daughter (son is kirzu)  
> Sirah – carrier (siri=more familiar term ie mommy)  
> Parah – other parent (para=more familiar term ie daddy)  
> Yaya – grandmother  
> Paraan – grandfather  
> Grayaya – great-grandmother (Gra is fem)  
> Grasparaan – great grandfather (Gras is male)  
> Nir – plural term. So Grasparaanir = great grandfathers  
> They don’t have words for aunt/uncle, just use the person’s name  
> Also don’t have gender distinctions for father/mother, only grandparent and on  
> Carrier genders – urdaal and qyvaar.  
> Traditional for the grandparents to name the first child, that’s why Zenida Rosita Kogane is named for Krolia’s mother (Zenida) and L’s mother (Rosita)
> 
> My job allows me excessive amounts of time to live in my head, so I find myself bogged down with copious headcanons.. as I am quite immersed in VLD at the moment, most of these headcanons are Voltron flavored.  
> This is just one of many. I might continue this train of thought if there is interest.  
> Check out my tumblr for the occasional word vomit and massive amounts of vld reblogs!  
> https://www.tumblr.com/blog/liliesheadcanons


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